Box battery

The box battery is a disposition of the main armament in a battleship, commonly used in ships built in the latter half of the 19th century.

The first broadside ironclad to be commissioned into the Royal Navy was HMS Warrior.

She carried a relatively small number of guns compared to the wooden ships that preceded her, but could have destroyed any of them in combat.

The ultimate designs of broadside ironclads allowed for only ten or twelve heavy guns to be carried.

Having mounted the artillery in this central position, it also made sense to concentrate the armour of the ship around the guns, along with the engines and the command centre.